Seventy-seven percent of educators say they are either poorly prepared or not prepared at all to teach students how to be successful in an AI-powered world, according to a recent EdWeek Research Center survey. This is a troubling number when you consider the rapid advances in this technology and its unimaginable potential to alter everything we do. How can educators ready themselves and their students for what this future could bring? Similarly, reading instruction has had its own challenges. It’s been a fiery instructional battleground for decades, but do we truly understand what is at the root of this persistent and emotional debate? The answers to these questions could help us solve some of education’s biggest instructional challenges today.
Join the conversation as experts in the field explore these instructional pain points and offer game-changing guidance for K-12 leaders and educators.
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Agenda
2:00pm ET
Welcome and Introduction
We’ll review key takeaways from recent reporting on big ideas in education.
Elizabeth Rich is the assistant managing editor, opinion for Education Week.
2:10pm ET
Interactive Session: The Reading Wars: Classroom Perspectives on the Ivory Tower Debate
What does “the science of reading” mean to you? How do you make your determinations of what is best practice when it comes to reading instruction? Where do you feel you need to grow as an educator when it comes to reading instruction? Or do you feel you’ve arrived? We will poll the audience on these and other related questions.
Alyson Klein is an assistant editor for Education Week.
2:20pm ET
Industry Perspective: Making Learning Meaningful and Interactive with Technology
Sponsor content provided by Promethean
In this session, we will discuss ways to improve the student experience in the classroom through technology. We will examine different ways that teachers can increase student interaction and create meaningful, student-centered educational experiences.
In this session, we will discuss ways to improve the student experience in the classroom through technology. We will examine different ways that teachers can increase student interaction and create meaningful, student-centered educational experiences.
Brandi Renfro
Educational Consultant,
Promethean
Brandi Renfro is an Educational Consultant serving the Georgia region. She earned a Bachelor of science in communications from East Carolina University and a master’s in educational technology from Southern Methodist University. Renfro worked as a special education teacher for most of her educational journey, working in the alternative educational setting, along with middle and high school settings. After deciding to pursue opportunities outside of the classroom, she worked in the special education department as a district level employee assisting special education teachers in professional development, compliance, and instructional strategies. Her role at Promethean allows her to guide districts, school staff, and teachers on how to use Promethean hardware and software to provide collaborative instruction and how to utilize interactive technology to take learning to a whole new level.
2:30pm ET
Panel Discussion: AI Is Coming. How Should K-12 Prepare?
Since the arrival of ChatGPT—a free and easy-to-use tool that can answer any prompt—AI has captivated the public’s attention. In the K-12 world, educators have been discussing what and how much of a role AI should play in instruction, especially as AI experts say today’s students need to learn how to use it effectively to be successful in future jobs. Yet many educators say they are not prepared to teach students how to be successful in an AI-powered world. In this session, AI experts and practitioners will discuss how the field can prepare students and teachers for this seeming inevitability.
Lauraine Langreo is an Education Week staff writer, covering education technology, student well-being, and college and workforce readiness.
Glenn Kleiman
Senior Adviser,
Stanford Graduate School of Education
Glenn Kleiman is a Senior Advisor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the Stanford Accelerator for Learning. Previously, he was a Professor of Education and Executive Director of the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University. Prior to that, he was Vice President and Senior Scientist at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) and a Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Chad Towarnicki
8th Grade English Teacher, Wissahickon School District
Chad Towarnicki is a public school educator and writer from Perkiomenville, Pa.
3:00pm ET
Industry Perspective: AI Guiding Principles that Empower Teaching and Learning
Sponsor content provided by Instructure
Generative AI is a transformative technology that will elevate student success, empower educators, and enhance the ways we teach and learn. The changes these tools will bring are here, and it’s up to K-12 leaders and educators to decide how we want to leverage them. But how can we use this technology to improve teaching and learning for everyone? Discover how bringing an intentional, secure, and human-driven approach to generative AI focused on students and teachers - not technology - can promote equitable and impactful learning experiences.
Generative AI is a transformative technology that will elevate student success, empower educators, and enhance the ways we teach and learn. The changes these tools will bring are here, and it’s up to K-12 leaders and educators to decide how we want to leverage them. But how can we use this technology to improve teaching and learning for everyone? Discover how bringing an intentional, secure, and human-driven approach to generative AI focused on students and teachers - not technology - can promote equitable and impactful learning experiences.
Elizabeth DiRenzo
Director, Product Management,
Instructure
Elizabeth DiRenzo is the Director of Product Management of Advance Development at Instructure. Her ed-tech product leadership career spans K-12, higher education, and nontraditional education. With a background as a former educator in public, charter, and private international schools, she brings an unparalleled understanding of educational dynamics and the innate ability to blend pedagogy and technology to her role. Her expertise lies in product incubation and taking ideas from zero to impactful products, driving innovation in the education technology sector.
3:10pm ET
Panel Discussion: The Reading Wars: What Can We Learn From the Reading Debates? And How Can the Field Move Forward?
Debates over how best to teach children how to read have raged for close to a century. But there’s one often-overlooked source of these battles that can help explain their persistence. Researchers in many different fields study reading, from educationalists to cognitive psychologists to linguists. But these fields use different methods, ask different questions, and hold different assumptions—a divide in research traditions that shapes what these researchers consider evidence, how they evaluate effectiveness, and what counts as truth. It’s a bifurcation that reaches beyond reading, to affect how we determine instructional best practices broadly. In this session, researchers in reading and other subjects who are working to bridge this divide will bring clarity to classroom teachers and administrators.
Sarah Schwartz is a reporter for Education Week who covers curriculum and instruction.
Julie Cohen
Charles S. Robb Associate Professor,
University of Virginia's School of Education and Human Development
Claude Goldenberg
Nomellini & Olivier Professor of Education, Emeritus,
Graduate School of Education at Stanford University
Nathan Jones
Commissioner for the National Center for Special Education Research at the Institute of Education Sciences
Tarja Parssinen
Founder of the WNY Education Alliance
3:55pm ET
Interactive Session: How Are You Preparing Students for an AI-Powered Future?
Is you school incorporating AI? What kind of professional development is guiding you? How are you integrating AI technology into your instruction? Do you feel prepared to drive this course of learning? We will poll the audience on these and other timely questions.
Alyson Klein is an assistant editor for Education Week.
4:05pm ET
Closing Thoughts
Hear the big takeaways from the Forum.
Elizabeth Rich is the assistant managing editor, opinion for Education Week.
